TEHRAN, Iran, June 17
Trend:
Iran and Turkmenistan trade has declined to 5 percent due to coronavirus spread, said the Head of Iran and Turkmenistan Joint Chamber of Commerce.
Majid Mohammadnejad has discussed the latest trade situation between the two countries in an interview with Trend.
"Iran and Turkmenistan joint borders of Sarakhs, Lotfabad and Incheboron have been closed in past four months due to the coronavirus spread, while these points connect us to the Eurasia and Central Asia," Mohammadnejad said.
"Closing borders have limited the trade between two countries and negatively affected Iran's foreign trade in general," the head of the chamber added.
"The volume of trade between Iran and Turkmenistan during first three months of current Iranian year [started March 20, 2020] declined by 95 percent," he said. "No particular date has been set for reopening of joint borders."
"The Iran and Turkmenistan Joint Chamber of Commerce is constantly in contact with the government, but the border situation has not been clarified yet," Mohammadnejad noted.
"Iran is going to importing 250 megawatt electricity from Turkmenistan and will probably pay for it via barter," he said adding that gas import from Turkmenistan has currently stopped due to disagreement over the price.
"The highest volume of trade between the two countries accounted for non-oil goods transported via railway," he said.
Turkmenistan and Iran discussed opportunities to re-launch transportation between two countries and issues related to ensuring security at the checkpoints of the Turkmen-Iranian border due to the epidemiological situation in the world on May 12, 2020.
On May 30, Turkmenistan and Iran reviewed the construction progress of disinfection facilities at border checkpoints. The parties discussed various issues related to the operation regime of the checkpoints, as well as the procedure for direct transportation of cargo through the borders.